Interesting facts about Tom Cruise

tom cruise

Tom Cruise is an American actor and producer.

His full name is Thomas Cruise Mapother IV. The name Mapother is pronounced like “MAY bother”, only with a P.

Tom Cruise was born on July 3, 1962 in Syracuse, New York.

His father, Thomas Cruise Mapother III, was an electrical engineer and his mother, Mary Lee (née Pfeiffer) worked as a special education teacher.

His parents were both from Louisville, Kentucky, and he has German, Irish, and English ancestry.

Tom has three sisters: Lee Anne, Marian, and Cass.

Young Tom spent his boyhood always on the move, and by the time he was 14 he had attended 15 different schools in the U.S. and Canada.

tom cruise young

While in high school, he developed an interest in acting and abandoned his plans of becoming a priest, dropped out of school, and at age 18 headed for New York and a possible acting career.

He made his film debut with a small part in Endless Love (1981) which was followed by Taps (1981) and The Outsiders (1983).

His breakout role as high school student Joel Goodson in Risky Business (1983) earned him a Best Actor Golden Globe nomination.

His star status was cemented with Top Gun (1986), the highest-grossing film of that year, in which he played a navy jet pilot.

tom cruise top gun

Cruise followed up Top Gun with The Color of Money (1986), which came out the same year, and which paired him with Paul Newman.

In 1988 he starred with Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, which won the Academy Award for Best Film and Cruise the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor.

For his portrayal of a Vietnam veteran turned activist in Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Cruise received his first Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Actor.

born on the fourth of july movie poster

Cruise’s next films were Days of Thunder (1990) and Far and Away (1992), both of which co-starred
then-wife Nicole Kidman as his love interest.

In 1992, Cruise proved once more that he could hold his own opposite a screen legend when he co-starred with Jack Nicholson in the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men.

a few good men

In 1993, he starred in the thriller film The Firm directed by Sydney Pollack.

In 1994, Cruise starred along with Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater in Neil Jordan’s
Interview with the Vampire, a gothic drama/horror film that was based on Anne Rice’s best-selling
novel.

He starred as superspy Ethan Hunt in 1996’s Mission: Impossible, and reprised his role in the hit 2000, 2006, 2011 and 2015 sequels.

mission: impossible

In 1996, he took on the title role in Jerry Maguire, for which he earned a Golden Globe and his second nomination for an Academy Award.

In 1999, he starred with his then-wife, Nicole Kidman, in the highly anticipated final film of director
Stanley Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut (1999), an examination of marital fidelity that drew mixed reviews.

Also in 1999, Cruise earned acclaim as a misogynistic self-help guru in Magnolia, for which he received
another Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

In 2002, he starred in Vanilla Sky, his second collaboration with Crowe, as well as Stephen Spielberg’s Minority Report.

In 2003, he starred in the Edward Zwick’s historical drama The Last Samurai, for which he received a
Golden Globe nomination as best actor.

the last samurai

In 2005, Cruise worked again with Steven Spielberg in War of the Worlds, a loose adaptation of the
H. G. Wells novel of the same name.

In 2007, Cruise took a rare supporting role for the second time in Lions for Lambs, which was a commercial disappointment.

In 2008 Cruise earned laughs as an abrasive movie executive in the comedy Tropic Thunder, and he
portrayed the historical figure Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, a German army officer who organized an
attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, in Valkyrie.

valkyrie

Breaking into new territory, he starred in the 2012 musical Rock of Ages. Although Cruise received
some positive reviews for his performance as a rock star, the movie failed to attract much of an audience.

Also in 2012 Cruise starred in the crime drama Jack Reacher, based on a book by Lee Child.

In 2013, he starred in the science-fiction film Oblivion based on director Joseph Kosinski’s graphic
novel of the same name.

He then portrayed a glib military public relations officer who is repeatedly killed and resurrected
in the science-fiction film Edge of Tomorrow (2014).

edge of tomorrow

In 2016 Cruise starred in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back a sequel to the 2012 film Jack Reacher.

Cruise starred in the 2017 reboot of Boris Karloff’s 1932 horror movie The Mummy; the new film is also
titled The Mummy.

Tom Cruise has been nominated for three Academy Awards and has won three Golden Globe Awards.

In 2012, Cruise was Hollywood’s highest-paid actor.

Tom Cruise has an estimated net worth of $550 million.

tom-cruise-2

Cruise has been married and divorced three times and has three children (two adopted and one biological).

His first marriage was to actress Mimi Rogers from 1987 to 1990. Rogers introduced Cruise to Church of Scientology.

His second marriage was to actress Nicole Kidman from 1990 to 2001. He has two adopted children with Nicole: Isabella Jane Cruise (born December 22, 1992) Connor Antony Cruise (born January 17, 1995).

His third marriage was to actress Katie Holmes from 2006 to 2012. In April 2006 their daughter Suri was born.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6912 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 16, 1986.

tom cruise star hollywood walk of fame

Cruise is an outspoken advocate for the Church of Scientology and its associated social programs.

Cruise struggled with dyslexia at an early age and has said that Scientology, specifically the L. Ron
Hubbard Study Tech, helped him overcome dyslexia.

In 2013, Cruise stated that ex-wife Katie Holmes divorced him in part to protect the couple’s daughter
Suri from Scientology. He also said that Suri is no longer a practicing member of the church.

He lived together with Vanilla Sky (2001) co-star Penélope Cruz from 2001 – 2004.

Cruise enjoys skydiving, scuba diving, and piloting his Pitts Special S-2B stunt plane.

Cruise is known for doing many of his own stunts, even exceptionally dangerous ones. For exemple climbing the exterior of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, during the filming of
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011).

tom cruise mission impossible ghost protocol

While filming Days of Thunder (1990) at Daytona International Speedway, he drove one of theHendricks Motorsports R&D cars around the track. The best time recorded was a lap at 330 km/h (205 mph)

He stopped to help a hit and run victim and paid her hospital bills. The victim was aspiring Brazilian
actress Heloisa Vinhas (1996).

He took up acting after losing his place on a high school wrestling team due to a knee injury.

His acting idol is Paul Newman. Much to the delight of Cruise, they became good friends during work on
The Color of Money (1986).

For 1988, he became the first actor to have the distinction of starring in both the year’s Oscar winner for Best Picture, Rain Man (1988) and the year’s Razzie “winner” for Worst Picture, Cocktail (1988).

Cruise will not allow his likeness to be used in video games or for action figures.

He is a huge fan of professional wrestling.